Empowered communities, collective choices

Every delivery of The Somali mother has been agonizing: the third
ended in miscarriage and subsequent gynaelogical problems,
including a fistula. Her doctor says he is kept busy dealing with
complications caused by FGM/C. “FGM puts a strain on the health
system.” Because FGM/C is a deeply entrenched social norm, the
decision to abandon FGM/C requires a process of social change that
enables communities to discuss, reflect and reach consensus. Since
change cannot be effectively imposed from the outside, the ultimate
decision to discontinue the practice rests with the women, men and
community leaders who can effect and sustain change. In this way,
community members can put into place a new social norm without
feeling that their cultural traditions are being violated or that
they are coerced or judged. The decision to abandon FGM/C must be
collective, widespread and explicit. This gives each family the
confidence that others are also abandoning the practice and that no
single girl or family will be disadvantaged by the decision. A
community dialogue generates a collective social learning and a
strengthening of ownership and responsibility for change. Part of
the responsibility is to engage neighbouring communities so that
abandonment can spread and be sustained, and so the social pressure
to perform FGM/C is transformed into pressure to abandon it. When
abandonment reaches this point, the new social convention becomes
self-enforcing: it continues swiftly and spontaneously.
Reblogged from: http://www.unfpa.org/topics/genderissues/fgm/strategicapproaches